WASHINGTON (February 3) – Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL-6) said language preserving the federal funding source for the Northern Beltline has been included in a major transportation bill to be voted on by the House of Representatives.

            “We have fought for many years to put all of the pieces in place for the completion of the Northern Beltline. The State of Alabama has recently pledged to expedite it. It is essential to complete this important economic development project as the people of Alabama have been promised,” said Congressman Bachus.

            Bachus pressed for a provision in the House bill to preserve the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS), the agency that provides the bulk of the funding for the project’s construction. Legislation under consideration in the Senate would consolidate the ADHS into a larger group of highway programs, potentially threatening the Beltline’s secure funding.

However, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted early this morning to accept the approach advocated by Bachus and a number of his colleagues to retain the ADHS as a separate program with a dedicated funding stream. Bachus serves on the committee, although he is currently on leave because of his Chairmanship of the Financial Services Committee. He helped arrange a Capitol Hill briefing on the ADHS program on January 26.

A date for a House vote on the transportation bill has not yet been scheduled. House and Senate legislation must be reconciled prior to enactment into law.

            Congressman Bachus has been a longtime proponent of the Northern Beltline to promote economic development and highway safety in Central Alabama. He worked to originally include the Northern Beltline project in the Appalachian Development Highway System.